The class of polymers of carbon monoxide and olefin(s) has been known for some time. Brubaker, U.S. Pat. No. 2,495,286, produced such polymers of relatively low carbon monoxide content in the presence of free radical initiators, e.g., peroxy compounds. U.K. 1,081,304 produced similar polymers of higher carbon monoxide content in the presence of alkylphosphine complexes of palladium salts as catalyst. Nozaki extended the process to produce linear alternating polymers in the presence of arylphosphine complexes of palladium moieties and certain inert solvents. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,694,412.
More recently, the class of linear alternating polymers of carbon monoxide and at least one ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbon, now becoming known as polyketones or polyketone polymers, has become of greater interest in part because of the greater availability of the polymers. The more recent general processes for the production of the polyketone polymers are illustrated by a number of published European Patent Applications including 121,965, 181,014, 222,454 and 257,663. The process generally involves the use of a catalyst composition formed from a compound of a Group VIII metal selected from palladium, cobalt or nickel, the anion of a non-hydrohalogenic acid having a pKa below about 6, preferably below 2, and a bidentate ligand of phosphorus, arsenic or antimony.
The resulting polymers are relatively high molecular weight materials having established utility as premium thermoplastics in, for example, the production of containers for food and drink which are produced by methods which are conventional for thermoplastics. It is useful, on occasion, to modify the properties of a polyketone polymer by producing derivatives of the carbonyl groups to obtain polymers of somewhat different character. A copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 138,767, filed Dec. 29, 1987, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,254 describes the hydrogenation of a linear alternating copolymer of carbon monoxide and ethylene to produce a polymeric polyalcohol having a high percentage of the monomeric units present of the structure --CH(OH)--CH.sub.2 --CH.sub.2 --. U.S. Pat. No. 2,495,292 describes a similar process for the hydrogenation of a carbon monoxide/ethylene polymer which is not a linear alternating copolymer and therefore produces, upon hydrogenation, polymeric polyalcohols having a plurality of random monomeric units. It would be of advantage, however, to provide other hydrogenated derivatives of polyketone polymers having a plurality of monomeric units but a regular arrangement of such units.